(Please refer to this newer post for an update on our personal views on vaccination. We still very much advocate elderberry elixir, just not as the single means of fighting an increasingly virulent H1N1 pandemic)

Early on in the pandemic, a bit less recently, I immersed myself in flublogia. These are long standing flu communities, lots of intellectual capital out there.. people I really admire and who really know what is up with the pandemic (doctors, nurses, epidemiologists, scientists in the field and those not in it – like me, am not a viral biologist).

To cut to the chase – neither I nor my kids will be taking the H1N1 vaccine. Why? Beyond the usual concerns that arise from the fact that this vaccine has been extremely fast tracked, under emergency actions, the vaccine to be deployed just about anywhere in the the world was generated from sequence from the earliest identified infections.

This means that the epitopes generated (the proteins that were produced from these early genetic sequences and then used to create a vaccine) may possibly be sufficiently different from those that H1N1 now carries, having passed through so many people, so as to render the vaccine of little use.

Also, poorly reported on in the press (as usual), is the problem of the spread of two genetic changes of note: tamiflu resistance and also a change that allows the virus to be more virulent in colder temperatures (this impacts the where and how the virus replicates in our lungs – shallow or deep).

These sorts of things makes a mom mostly want to hide her kids away but its hard, we do not homeschool all our three kids, just one.

I have stocked up on all sorts of meds, herbal teas for fevers and vitamin C boosting, rehydration powders and liquids, etc. I have laid in stocks of N95 masks and gloves.

I am ready to take on the swine flu but I would rather we never get it. I actually suspect that we did get it this past March (sick for a month, all of us) but if we did, it likely would not confer any meaningful immunity to a second wave or third wave virus that would have evolved sufficiently to bypass our nascent immunological defenses against this disease.

With all this in mind, my ears perked when I heard about a traditional medicinal that was shown in scientific studies to have activity against H1N1 – Elderberry, also known as Sambucus.

The wiki says:

In a placebo-controlled, double-blind study, elderberry was shown to be effective for treating Influenza B. [1] People using the elderberry extract recovered much faster than those only on a placebo. This is partially due to the fact that Elderberry inhibits neuraminidase, the enzyme used by the virus to spread infection to host cells.

A small study published in 2004 showed that 93% of flu patients given extract were completely symptom-free within two days; those taking a placebo recovered in about six days. This current study shows that, indeed, it works for type A flu, reports lead researcher Erling Thom, with the University of Oslo in Norway.[2]

Thom’s findings were presented at the 15th Annual Conference on Antiviral Research.

The study involved 60 patients who had been suffering with flu symptoms for 48 hours or less; 90% were infected with the A strain of the virus, 10% were infected with type B. Half the group took 15 milliliters of extract and the other group took a placebo four times a day for five days.

Patients in the extract group had “pronounced improvements” in flu symptoms after three days: nearly 90% of patients had complete cure within two to three days. Also, the extract group had no drowsiness, the downside of many flu treatments. The placebo group didn’t recover until at least day six; they also took more painkillers and nasal sprays.

It’s likely that antioxidants called flavonoids—which are contained in the extract—stimulate the immune system, writes Thom. Also, other compounds in elderberry, called anthocyanins, have an anti-inflammatory effect; this could explain the effect on aches, pains, and fever.

Elderberry extract could be an “efficient and safe treatment” for flu symptoms in otherwise healthy people and for those with compromised immune systems, such as the elderly, Thom adds.

Russell Greenfield, MD, a leading practitioner of integrative medicine and medical director of Carolinas Integrative Health, advocates treating flu with black elderberry, he says in a news release. “It can be given to children and adults, and with no known side effects or negative interactions,” he says.

Abstract:
A ionization technique in mass spectrometry called Direct Analysis in Real Time Mass Spectrometry (DART TOF-MS) coupled with a Direct Binding Assay was used to identify and characterize anti-viral components of an elderberry fruit (Sambucus nigra L.) extract without either derivatization or separation by standard chromatographic techniques. The elderberry extract inhibited Human Influenza A (H1N1) infection in vitro with an IC(50) value of 252+/-34 microg/mL. The Direct Binding Assay established that flavonoids from the elderberry extract bind to H1N1 virions and, when bound, block the ability of the viruses to infect host cells. Two compounds were identified, 5,7,3′,4′-tetra-O-methylquercetin (1) and 5,7-dihydroxy-4-oxo-2-(3,4,5-trihydroxyphenyl)chroman-3-yl-3,4,5-trihydroxycyclohexanecarboxylate (2), as H1N1-bound chemical species. Compound 1 and dihydromyricetin (3), the corresponding 3-hydroxyflavonone of 2, were synthesized and shown to inhibit H1N1 infection in vitro by binding to H1N1 virions, blocking host cell entry and/or recognition. Compound 1 gave an IC(50) of 0.13 microg/mL (0.36 microM) for H1N1 infection inhibition, while dihydromyricetin (3) achieved an IC(50) of 2.8 microg/mL (8.7 microM). The H1N1 inhibition activities of the elderberry flavonoids compare favorably to the known anti-influenza activities of Oseltamivir (Tamiflu; 0.32 microM) and Amantadine (27 microM).

Thus, I have been meaning to make some sort of elderberry syrup for my family but wasnt sure where to start.

Then, I stopped by a recently opened herbal medicine center and found that they not only had two different elderberry syrups on hand, they also had a recipe and the ingredients to make it at home! I asked them for the latter and brought home all sorts of goodies!

Elderberry Elixir

Ingredients

7 cups spring water

1 cups dried elderberries

4 medium tongues of dried astragulus

6 pieces of Fo Ti (Ho Shu Wa)

1 ounce dried rose hips

1/4 ounce dried nettles

2 cups honey

Directions

Bring water to boil in enamel or stainless steel pot. Add elderberries, astragulus, fo ti, and rose hips, stir, cover and simmer on lowest setting for 35 minutes. Add nettles, stir, simmer for 5- 7 minutes. Take off heat and crush elderberries as much as possible. Strain through cheese cloth several times and, while still hot, add 2 cups honey. Mix until in solution. Store in the refrigerator.

Hi Nika
It has been awhile since I have looked at your blog… firstly how is Felicity the goat?
I read your post regarding the Elderberry Elixir with much interest because my granny used to make ‘Pontack’ which is an Elderberry sauce of which we either had neat or used in cooking for sauces and gravies…according to tradition Pontack is best used after 7 years!
We are lucky to have Elder trees and it is berry season so following tradition I started to make this sauce. It is rather pungent, fruity and spicy because its also made with cider vinegar, cloves, allspice, black peppercorns and fresh ginger … if that doesn’t knock to swine flu bug I don’t what would! As children we used to have a spoonful Raspberry Vinegar and Rosehip Syrup and this would always seem to hold off the common cold and any tummy bugs.

Sometimes the old ways are the best and look to mother nature…!

Hope all is well with you

Joanna

PS I dont know if I have mentioned my blog : cowslipsandclover.blogspot.com/ to see what I am up to!

Hi Nika
I found the dried berries in a health food store in Concord. I bought a whole C ;0
I was wondering, do you know what it does to the nutrients in the berries when you simmer them for that long? What breaks down, etc.
Preparing to make yogurt with raw milk I have become more sensitive to the “don’t boil it now!” considerations.
Hope you have an answer – my searches didn’t bring up much, but the I’m known to be the worst Googler in the world.
Katrien

When I make raw yogurt its still warm from the goat – I dont warm it up at all. I filter it and then put it into a 1/2 gallon jar and add the cultures, stick in excalibur dehyrator until set.

I know that vitamin C is destroyed by heat but I do not know what happens to the rest of the elderberry components. You dont boil the various elixir parts, you add it to the hot water and then simmer at the very lowest temp you can manage for those 35 minutes.

Hi Nika,
thanks for the response. I am forever wondering about such things and wish I had paid closer attention in chemistry class, then I could have perhaps made sense out of chemistry articles on the issue.. For instance, when a juice bottle claims so many vitamins and so many this or that, is that before or after they pasteurized the juice?
BTW, I awarded you the Honest Scrap Award. Here it is: http://blog.bolandbol.com/2009/10/17/honest-scrap/ Enjoy!

Hi. I found your blog via Katrien’s. Interesting post. I used to be an RN and have worked both in hospitals and a doctors office. That said, I now totally reject traditional modern medicine. Thanks for sharing the information and the recipe.

I am guessing that most of the juices are pasteurized in enormous stainless steel reactors and then added in minute amounts (to be able to legally claim it to be juice) to a sterile mixture of high fructose corn syrup and chemical grade synthetic vitamins and minerals.

thanks for stopping by and saying hi! I am glad to share these things as I learn about them. Most middle class americans have such profoundly poor nutrition (even the ones eating industrial organic foods grown on depleted soils) that our dis-ease arises from our malnutrition.

Whole foods grown on whole soil is what we need. Insulin in a needle and diabetes educators and doctors who tell you what to eat (calories being their own metric and not the wholesomeness of the food) and havent the first clue about what they dont know is why most people in our sick society will not get better.

It is too bad you will have to stop making this for influenza. It is now patented (Patent #12159691) by Healthcare Brands International. Nobody but them can add elderberry fruit (Sambucus Nigrans L) in ANY pharmaceutical preparation (elixers, etc) to treat influenza. Sorry.

Recent Posts

About Me

We are a family of 5, including Nika, Ed, Q (14), KD (7), and Baby Oh (4).
We garden 1024 square feet of raised beds plus assorted permacultural plantings.
We also have 13 LaMancha dairy goats, 40 chickens, and one guard llama.